I POLISH MENU À LA CARTE

Krzysztof Olechnicki, Tomasz Szlendak

Polish menu à la carte, or a backpack which is being emptied

II POLAND – UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Roch Sulima

Case of peasants, and Polish “damned problems”

Radosław Kossakowski

“Damned” football hooligans – looking for authenticity – reconstruction of identity policy of the Polish sport supporters

Mirosław Pęczak

“Patriotisms” of the Polish pop music

Zbigniew Izdebski

Contemporary poles against sexuality. Puritans or hedonists?

Hanna Gajos

Orderly or casual? Poles owned by the trends and lost in style

III POLAND – FROM DISTANCE

Mariusz Wołos

Poland seen from a Russian distance

Igor Kąkolewski

From polnische Wirtschaft to Poland’s thrift? Configurations and continuation of the German stereotypes on Poles – from 18th to the beginning of the 21th century

Jacek Tebinka, Iwona Sakowicz-Tebinka

The Brits and the Poles. Image of Poland in the UK – from Churchill to Cameron

Thomas Anessi

Liquid Polishness. Image of contemporary Poland and Poles in the English translations of the Polish literature

Leszek Kuk

Close or far? Image of Poland and Poles in Italy. Historical preconditions and contemporary evolution

Antoni Kroh

Two centuries of Polish-Czech antipathy

IV CLOSE POLAND FROM A DISTANCE

Tomasz Ferenc

Poland, Polish minority, Poles – non-homogeneous opinions, feelings and stances among the contemporary emigree artists

V POLAND ON THE NET

Edwin Bendyk

Autark citizen or angry customer?

Krzysztof Pietrowicz

Dark matter and dark energy of the net. Supervision, consumption, passivity

Krzysztof Olechnicki

In the space of separated meanings. Internet sub-worlds – a fulcrum for cultural activity

The article recalls the “gastronimic” metaphor describing the concept of the nation, inspired by Anthony D. Smith. According to that metaphor, the Polish culture cannot be perceived as one body which is normatively coherent, tightly linked with the reservoir of unchangeable values. Our culture, and our Polish identity should rather be interpreted as a menu provided to the guests at a restaurant - it is a set of meals which, altogether, form that identity. What is the “food for thought” for our nation then? What impact does that cuisine have on its fate? What ingredients are being used by us to create our own Polish identity, here, and there, in the foreign lands? Do they, and if they do - how do they exist: Poland and Polish culture, in the European and global melting pot of ideas, aesthetics, styles and beliefs? Can these elements becomes an “export” culture which would be “imperial”, in a positive sense?

The article makes an attempt at initial conceptualization of the “social image” of village and the peasants, which are more and more pronounced just recently and which become a part of the pop culture and the post-colonial discourse. A romantic idea of the rural natives has been an impregnating agent for the critical thoughts on the Poles' cultural identity. On the verge of the 21st Century, especially starting from the post-1989 period, the issue of folk, village and Polish farmers is finally out of the logosphere – literature and the media, where it has been shaped. It is transferred to the sphere of iconic images, deeply rooted in the pop culture and its basic media. Up until now the substantial changes of the medium which was a carrier for the social image of village and the peasants have not been noticed. The image is being constructed mainly within the new semiotic creations, hence the field of impact is also different – the image in question is democratized, neutralized ideologically, politically, customarily or even socially. A wonderfully colorful rural area, which was mythologized is a thing of the past – the “silent” village of shameful heritage and feudal wounds is up on the surface. Village is also treated as a location of the “Polish insecurities” and “damned problems”. The “balancing” narratives mentioned above, as we may think, may also be a content which has been “invented” for the pop culture discourses, articulated in its rhetorical and semiotic creations.

The text makes an attempt at reconstructing the main directions undertaken by the football supporters identity in Poland. The author indicates that the cultural aims of the movement may be interpreted as a specific policy of identity. Fans who are most involved create a peculiar cultural community, founded on a specific axis of identity. The elements which define that identity include the oppositional/antagonistic profile, references made to patriotic and conservative values, praise of “hegemonic masculinity”, discourse of authenticity and anti-establishment, or even anti-system character of the movement.

Co-creation of collective identities through the popular culture has quite a rich tradition in Poland. This phenomenon is reflected for example by usage of patriotic themes in the popular music. This is evidenced by numerous examples of the period between 1939 and 1989 and in the post-1989 pop music. Phenomena of subcultural nationalism, folk character of the pop culture and so called high culture, and official historical policy are an overlay to the above. Last anniversaries of the Warsaw Uprising and the related celebrations seem to have a significant meaning here.

The study presents the results of experience and opinion survey carried out in the group of Poles aged 18–49. The survey covered the issue of sexuality. As a result of a statistical analysis, attitudes towards the sexual activity have been determined. Four categories were created, classified as: passive, puritans, partners and hedonists. The partners and the passive turned out to be the largest groups quantitatively (25% and 27% respectively), the more extreme attitudes – the puritans and the hedonists – were not as common – 20 and 14% respectively.

Image of Poland in contemporary Russia is multidimensional. Our country is seen differently by a member of Moscow-based “intelligentsia”, and by a resident of Siberia. A Russian citizen living in the Kaliningrad Oblast may have another perception of Poland. Poland is not the most important country for our Eastern neighbors, in fact for most of them it has a tertiary value. It is hard to call Poland a country which is being populated by “orthodox” Slavs, since the Poles are not protestant, what is more, they try to stress the fact that they belong in the Western world, which is treated as a symptom of competition by many of the Russians. In the light of the Crimean and Ukrainian crises, nationalist and xenophobic tendencies directed towards Poland are being more and more pronounced. Both countries have a bumpy road ahead – which needs to be taken in order to go over the mental, cultural, social and historical barriers between them.

At the end of the 18th Century, the Germans have started to create a stereotype of „polnische Wirtschaft”, associated with mess, chaos and anarchy in all fields of social life. This was, until the end of the 20th Century, the dominant German heterostereotype of Poland, amplified by the autostereotype of German order, accuracy and hard work. Two positive German stereotypes on Poles, formed in the 1830’s – “der edle Pole” (the noble Pole) and „die schöne Polin” (the beautiful Polish woman) have been of secondary importance in the German perception of Poles. The author presents the process of evolution of the basic German stereotypes regarding Poland, throughout the last three centuries, confronting his conclusions with the current research, according to which the Germany’s eastern neighbour is perceived more and more positively.

The article presents historical transformation of the mutual British-Polish relations. The authors describe the events that had an impact on mutual perception of both nations, and indicate the points where the fate of the two nations crossed, describing the arising consequences of these events.

Not only did transition of Poland from a “rough” communist to a “fluid” capitalist order in 1989 eliminate the old political system, it also changed the way in which the Polish culture has been read in the West, as certain perceptions were valid starting from the World War II. Starting from the Bauman’s concept, the author analyses perception of the contemporary Polish literature translated into English language in the 21st century. Not only is the image of contemporary Poland, created by the English-speaking critics, translators and publishers a reflection of change and situation beyond the Oder river, but it also may be interpreted as a product of globalization and late modernity.

Poland and Italy both belong to the Western civilization, however, they differ to a large extent. Polish-Italian relations, similarly as the mutual perception of both countries, show a great lack of balance, stemming from socio-economic differences and different political potential, as well as from the differences in the history and development of these. This disproportion, which is very unfavourable for Poland, is being diminished now, due to the fast socio-economic progress made by contemporary Poland. Its image in Italy is favourable, and it is getting better, which may be seen in the position of the 100-thousand people large Polish diaspora in Italy.

This essay presents two centuries of Polish-Czech relations, it takes numerous antagonisms into account, those maintained in language or mentality of the neighboring nations, along with the conflicting and shared elements of identities. The author, thanks to his knowledge of Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia, draws a passionate image of Poland, seen from beyond the South-Western border.

Emigree artists are functioning within many social dimensions, including contact with Poland, the Polish minority and the other Poles. This is a complex network of relationships, characterized with a high level of ambivalence. The present article, based on several biographical interviews with the Polish artists living in London, Paris and New York, summarizes an attempt to create a profile of multi-dimensional character of these relationships. Emigrants’ contacts with Poland and the Polish institutions (embassies, Polish culture institutes, Polish minority art galleries) have a variety of forms, implicating a variety of emotional states. The collected narratives present a changeable amplitude of these emotions, variability within the scope of opinions and experience gathered by the emigrants.

The article covers a variety of practices of resistance related to the way of being taken by the Poles in the Internet. The present work also covers the issue of increased awareness of the Internet users. The author focuses mostly on the ACTA-related protests and other activities that are an expression of discontent of the “Virtual Citizens”. The text exposes the anonymity of Internet movements, high level of discipline of the participants and the values which are pursued by the representatives of the groups of activists.

The main aim of the herein text is to provide arguments that support two hypotheses. The first one reads as follows: The Internet changes the Poles in a way which is the same as in case of any nation. The second is: the key function of the Internet seems to socialize the society to act in compliance with the following values: supervision, consumption and passivity. The author, referring to the metaphor of “dark matter and energy” and to the Internet research per se, tries to show where such hypothesis may pose problem for the researchers.

The article analyses the results of one of the research modules, of the “In what period of culture the Poles live?” research. New ritualism and creation of alternative subworlds, are becoming the dominant cultural practices, aim of which is to diagnose the new cultural activity patterns pursued by the Poles, who have less and less time on their hands, and who usually follow standardized event/carnival culture. However, persons who are creating alternative, cultural sub-worlds are also present. Initial characteristics describing the internet sub-worlds shows their integration role, transformation potential and important role of production and distribution of knowledge and the status functions.